While Germany is thinking about the third corona vaccination, many poorer countries are still waiting for their first.
The WHO chief calls for a "U-turn".
Geneva - In order to increase vaccination protection and to protect the population from new virus variants, the first booster vaccinations are already planned in this country.
The third corona vaccination should be available in Germany from September.
Other countries, such as the US, have similar plans.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has now severely criticized this approach.
Because while Germany is already discussing rules for unvaccinated people, the vaccine is still scarce in poorer countries.
Often not even nurses are vaccinated.
The WHO is therefore calling for booster vaccinations against the coronavirus to be temporarily stopped as long as many poorer countries are still waiting for vaccine doses.
WHO chief calls for booster vaccinations to be stopped - corona vaccine used in poorer countries
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus criticized the plans for such corona vaccinations discussed in several countries in Geneva on Wednesday.
He called for booster vaccinations that had already been started to be suspended and for plans to be put on hold until at least the end of September.
At least ten percent of people in every country in the world should be vaccinated.
"High-income countries have given 100 doses of vaccine per 100 people," said Tedros.
“At the same time, low-income countries could only give 1.5 doses per 100 people because they lack vaccine.
We urgently need a U-turn so that the majority of vaccines go to low-income instead of high-income countries. "
Criticism of corona vaccination plans: USA defends itself - "We believe that we can do both"
Meanwhile, the White House in Washington rejected the WHO's criticism.
According to the US government, this is the "wrong choice," said Jen Psaki, White House spokeswoman in Washington on Wednesday.
"We believe that we can do both and not have to make that choice."
So far, the US has donated more than 110 million vaccine doses to other countries, more than any other country in the world.
At the same time, the USA would have enough vaccination doses for its own population - also to possibly provide parts of the population with booster vaccinations, if the responsible US drug authority should recommend this.
Corona in poorer countries: Little vaccine and high death rates
Global vaccine distribution has long been criticized. Poorer countries will probably only get access to a sufficiently reliable corona vaccine years later. At the same time, the corona death rate is significantly lower in poor countries. “This pandemic is far from over,” the editorial network Germany quoted a UN emergency aid coordinator at the end of July. "We are in one of the most dangerous periods for the poorest people on our planet." In the current year, almost three quarters of the countries in need of humanitarian aid had more corona cases or deaths than in the entire previous year. (
vs / dpa
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